Cinnamon Roasted Ham and Pears

The Endive Chronicles 2008 Holiday Bonanza is coming to a close, I will be taking a few days off before sharing a few New Years treats with you. This has been a lot of fun, thanks for your enthusiasm!

We are getting down to the wire this holiday season, but I had to try and fit this more traditional style recipe into The Endive Chronicles 2008 Holiday Bonanza, especially since my last recipe was most decidedly nontraditional.

I love ham. Ham, Prosciutto, Iberico, Virginia, Westphalian, Serrano, Black Forest, jamon, jambon, I don’t care, I love ham. The preceding is a rather serious proclamation considering the fact that I used to be a self proclaimed ham hater (except bacon). A few years ago I came out from under the cloud I was living under and realised just how incredible really ham is. I think my mouth has been trying to make up for it ever since, at least that is what my hips keep telling me. Until this recipe I had never experienced a ham prepared with sweet flavors, so I thought it was high time I did.

In November of ’07  s we nibbled our way through a my buffet spread with our friends Kim and William, and I, or rather my hollow legged friend Kim discovered just how wonderful ham and pears match up. So, when I was working out a recipe for this holiday season my thoughts naturally turned to that delicious discovery. I have made this a few times already, and thought it was delicious, but just not the recipe I was looking for. Tonight things finally came together for my holiday ham. I hope you enjoy it.

Happy Holidays!

The Basting Liquid

2 Pears, peeled and sliced

2 cup Water

1/4 cup Dried Currants

1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cinnamon Stick

Simmer the ingredients together until the pears fall apart. Blend until smooth, run through a sieve if you like and cool. I recommend this, it will be much more pleasing to the eye.

The Ham and Pears

1 8-10 lb Cold Smoked Bone-in Raw Ham, at room temp and scored in a pretty crosshatch

4 Pears, (I used some lovely D’Anjou from Oregon, but use your favorite), halved with the centers removed

1 Recipe Pear Cinnamon Glaze

Preheat your oven to 425F.

Place your ham on a rack over a roasting pan and slather with the pear cinnamon glaze. Put a few cups of water in the bottom of the roasting pan, adding a more when it begins to dry out*. Place the ham in the oven for 15 minutes before lowering the heat to 375F. Baste occasionally and keep track of the temperature. It will cook to 165F-170F or 15 minutes a pound.

At about 130F, add the pears and the remaining basting liquid to the roasting pan. Cook to the proper temp, basting every so often, remove, rest, slice and serve!

*Note: If the pan gets dry, the juices can burn and that will detract from the flavor of the pears later. It also helps create a bit of jus to spoon over later.